Shadow
by lovesxcontagious
Summary: Two weeks after Finn and Rachel break-up, Finn decides it's time to do something to stop the hurting. Fluff, essentially in the end. One-Shot.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own the title, the characters, or anything like that. I own the banner 'cause I made it, duh, but I don't own the pictures. Essentially, I don't own jack. Enjoy.

"_I'm officially breaking up with you." _

The words stung her like salt in a wound, and she drew back as if she was being struck. She opened her mouth to protest, but obviously it did no good. Finn was gone, walking back to his car and shaking his head in disgust. Disgust of her, Rachel Barbara Berry, who had ruined the most precious love she'd ever experienced in all her years of being. She looked at her surroundings: the overt lot full of lush Christmas pine trees, and the happy families looking around for the tree they would later put up in their living rooms. Rachel herself did not understand the tradition; it was as though people took joy in watching a living thing die, slowly but surely. Rachel sacrificed these opinions for her one and only, Finn Hudson; who, it seemed, took joy in watching living things fall to pieces before his eyes.

For the Berry family, the season was drawing to a close. Chanukah was over, and Rachel had gotten everything that she wanted, with one exception that it seemed she couldn't be happy without. She turned over a tiny, perfectly enveloped package with small, plump Santa Clauses printed all over the wrapping paper that were laughing merrily; small "HO, HO" quotes near his mouth. A faultless red bow lay on top of the gift, with a small tag partially concealed by the shadows of the bow. The tag read simply, "_To Finn with Love, From Rachel." _The ink smeared considerably as her tears brimmed over her eyes, and fell onto the gift tag. Rachel took deep breaths, trying to compose herself before her fathers called her down to eat dinner with them. She stood up from her bed and, looking at herself in the mirror, pressed the wrinkles from her new periwinkle sweater. Brushing her hair from her face, Rachel took the gift she intended for Finn and laid it softly in the bottom of her empty trash bin. With the gift, she resolved to leave her feelings - in the garbage.

Finn Hudson sat in his car, his breath coming out in small, white puffs. In the freezing weather, he gripped his steering wheel until the knuckles on his hands turned white from the pressure. He asked himself continuously why he could not get Rachel out of his mind. He loved her, he knew, but he had willed himself not to - she had cheated! She was wrong, and he shouted the facts internally over and over again, but he could not stop himself from shouting back all the wonderful things their relationship held for him. Happiness, and wonderful memories, and a smile that made his heart leap. Why did his pride always get in the way, then? Why couldn't he just drive right over to the Berry's, take Rachel in his arms, and forgive her? He could, he reasoned, but what good would that do? She could just do it again.

_I wrapped it up and sent it, with a note saying "I love you."_

_I meant it. Now I know, what a fool I've been, but if you_

_Kissed me now, I know you'd fool me again._

"Come on, Rachel! This is your favorite." Her father prodded her, as the other, rather more intuitive one, shook his head at him. Rachel glanced up from the broccoli that she was focusing on pushing around her plate with her fork, and smiled half-heartedly.

"I'm sorry Daddy; I'm just not feeling well." Rachel sighed and pushed her plate away, pressing her napkin to her mouth and then placing on top of her plate, "May I be excused?" Her fathers nodded and she pushed her chair away from the table and headed for the stairs that led to her room. The moment the door clicked shut behind her, tears began to fall from her once bright eyes yet again, it seemed to be inevitable. The heartbreak was an unforgiving pain that never ceased, and Rachel was convinced it never would. She slid off her Mary Jane's and climbed into her bed, still dressed in her plaid skirt and Chanukah-gifted sweater. Rachel hugged her pillow to her chest, and closed her eyes, subjecting herself to all the heartbreak that she could take before drifting into an exhausted sleep.

Tossing and turning, Finn Hudson finally accepted the fact that he would not fall asleep at 3:07 AM, exactly. Pushing himself into an upward position, he sighed deeply and rested his head in his hands. He couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep, and he certainly couldn't go on with the resonating pain in his chest. It seemed that he only had one option left; he had to talk to her. He missed Rachel so much that it made him literally nauseous. Grabbing his sweatshirt off of the floor, Finn pushed his bed sheets off himself and got up off of his bed, nearly hitting his head on his slanted ceiling, which was nothing new. After he pulled on his boots and preparing for the blistering snow outside, Finn slid open his window with the silent skill of someone who had snuck out his fair share of times. Dropping the short foot or so from the window into the snow, Finn shut his bedroom window behind himself and braced himself against the wind, heading off into the direction of Rachel's house. It wasn't too far, really, and Finn needed the time to prepare what he would say. How would he even wake her up? He shook his head; his plans were never very well thought-out.

After about a half hour of walking and wishing that his car wasn't so loud (he couldn't take it, as he didn't want to wake up his mom), he finally reached the Berry's. Finn looked up into Rachel's window and saw the light was on, which was odd being it was four in the morning. Biting his lip, Finn knew that throwing rocks would never work. One, because it only works in the movies and there was a very good chance he would break her window in the process, and two, because all the rocks that would have been on the ground, were now covered by almost a foot of powdery snow. To solve the problem as to how Finn was going to get Rachel's attention, genius struck him, or so he thought it was genius. Near the beginning of their relationship, Rachel had brought Finn to her house right after school - before her dads arrived home from their respective workplaces. She brought him around to the back door, stating matter-of-factly that they always left an extra key under the back rug in case of emergency. Finn was going to break into their house. Well, sort of.

Around four in the morning, Rachel woke up, startled. She heard some type of creaking and, knowing how heavy of sleepers her fathers were, she knew it wasn't either of them. They always slept soundly through the night - she believed that if she were ever so inclined, she could sneak in and out of the house with ease. Rachel pushed the thought aside, focusing on the issue at hand. She blinked the light out of her eyes, feeling foolish realizing she fell asleep with her clothes and bedroom light on. Climbing out of her bed, Rachel grabbed the nearest object she could use as a weapon, her curling iron, and crept towards her bedroom door. Her hands were shaking as she took deep breaths, calling to mind the self-defense classes she took when she was around the age of 13; her dads wanted her prepared for sexual predators as she neared the point of puberty. Rachel pulled open the door and saw a tall, dark figure approaching her. For the first time in her life, her vocal chords didn't quite operate and all that came from what she thought was her most powerful scream, was a high-pitched squeak. She swung her curling iron blindly into the dark and felt collision. The man groaned and hunched over, the light overflowing from her bedroom illuminating his face. Rachel scrunched her face in confusion, "Finn?"

After Finn coaxed the rusted key into the lock, he made quick work of getting to Rachel's bedroom. The last thing he wanted was one of her fathers to wake up and find him creeping throughout their house. As he finally saw a crack of light from under Rachel's door, the door opened. Before he had time to say something, Rachel swung some sort of stick and it hit head directly on the forehead. He dropped to his knees, clutching his head, and groaned. Quickly, he quieted down realizing this could easily get them caught; that was the last thing he wanted. Finn looked up at Rachel from on the ground as she called his name in confusion. He figured he should explain, but he couldn't even see straight as his head was spinning from beating and he was blinded the sudden rush of light in his face. He groaned again and nodded the best he could, hoping if he identified himself maybe she wouldn't whack him again. Or maybe she'd just whack him harder.

Once Rachel realized what she did, she fell to her knees and held her hands over Finn's head, trying to comfort him in any way. Guilt flooded her as she gripped his elbow and helped him get to his feet, "I'm so sorry, Finn! I thought you were breaking into my house…" Rachel's faced fell into a confused expression again, "Well, I guess you were breaking into my house, but I thought you were some sort of sexual predator." She sighed as they inched into her room, shutting the door quietly behind them with the hand that wasn't holding Finn's elbow. She was unsure as to why she was still holding him; it's not like she could steady him at all, their size difference made that impossible. Rachel led him to her bed and had him sit on the edge of it, although he just fell onto his back; still gripping his head. Rachel ran her fingers through her hair, only then realizing how awful her appearance must be. She had been crying, and slept in her clothes; didn't brush her hair. She gasped quickly and mumbled, "Hold on one second."

Finn looked at her in confusion and only then noticed how she looked. He tilted his head to one side, examining her. Her neck flushed, which quickly spread to her cheeks, as she realized he must be looking at her smeared makeup and wrinkled clothes. She turned to walk towards the bathroom, but Finn grabbed her hand, using it as slight leverage to help himself up. He looked down, embarrassed as she looked at him questioningly. "You look beautiful," He mumbled shyly, "really." She smiled his favorite Rachel Berry smile and he stood up, ignoring the objection from his throbbing head. His palms were sweaty, and his still felt a bit off-balance from getting hit in the head from what he now saw was a curling iron grasped in Rachel's tiny hands, but he placed a hand on her cheek and smiled back at her.

Rachel was confused to say the least. She didn't know where Finn's sudden affection came from, and she had no idea why he was in her house at four in the morning. These questions and more screamed in back of her head, accusing Finn of just playing with her heartstrings; however, looking in his eyes, she pushed those thoughts aside. The look in his eyes, she had missed dearly over the past few weeks, it was the look of love. The look that showed her that no matter what she wore or what she looked like; Finn loved her. It's how she knew from the very beginning, that she and Finn were destined to be together. She broke the eye contact first, looking down at him, and realizing that he was soaked and shaking from the snow. Rachel gasped, unzipping his coat and removing it quickly, "You must be freezing! God, Finn, why didn't you say anything?" She rolled her eyes and ran to the bathroom, grabbing a towel.

Finn chuckled as he watched his love run around in one of he frazzled states. She was a drama queen, true, but he knew she meant well. He silently thanked Grilled Cheesus when she returned with a towel, because he was truly freezing. Finn let her rub him down with the towel and then wrap a fuzzy white bathrobe around him. He kicked off his boots and shivered; his body adjusting the temperature difference. Then he refocused his attention to what he came here for; Rachel. "I came here tonight to tell you something really important."

Rachel's stomach flooded with butterflies, she knew that finally, _finally_, Finn was going to forgive her. After two long and painful weeks of crying herself to sleep, Finn was coming back to her. Some people may look at her and think that she was pathetic, thinking that two weeks was so long to wait, but they couldn't understand. She had waited for months for Finn to be hers, and knowing that she messed it up was unbearable. That, on top of the heartbreak of losing her only love, was heart wrenching. She felt sick with excitement as she waited for him to say the words she longed to hear.

Looking at her face, Finn knew he didn't have to say anything; it was unspoken. She was his, and he was hers - they were meant for each other. He sighed and smiled, snaking his arms around her waist again. They didn't need to talk about it, because the time apart said all that they had to say to one another; they needed each other. As Finn's lips closed on hers, it was if they spent no time apart, they moved in sync just as they had before. Exactly the same, yet better in every way. He missed the way her mouth moved against his, how full her lips were, and the taste of her lips; they seemed to be induced with cherry flavoring. Maybe it was because she reapplied her lip gloss fifty times a day or maybe just because she was Rachel Berry and everything about her was perfect and just the way Finn wanted it.

Rachel gasped at the sudden contact of his lips on hers, but quickly she retaliated. She rolled onto the balls of her feet, pressing her lips back against his and running her tongue along the bottom lip that formed half of her favorite smile. She felt his lips turn up into that very smile against her lips before he opened his mouth slightly, sliding his tongue against hers. Her breath caught, and she pressed herself against him. Despite the fact that he was still damp from the snow, she felt heat coursing through her body, and she slid her hands into his hair, stroking it and tugging it gently as she knew he liked.

When they both finally needed air, they released one another, but only slightly; remaining intertwined in each others arms. They were both breathing heavily, goofy grins plastered across their faces. Unspoken, like most things in their relationships, they knew they would never be apart again. Tonight was the beginning of forever.


End file.
